Jay McKenzie
Jay McKenzie (born 3 December 1998) is a Polish racing driver who races in GP4 Offline Championship for Mercedes, having won the 2014 title with them. He is very successful driver who has driven in the main tier of the OC since 2006 and won his first championship with Mercedes in 2014. Currently he is under contract with the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team for 2016. A driver of supreme skill and merit, McKenzie is one of only a handful of current drivers who competed in the Championships inaugural event, the Bahrain Grand Prix 2006. He is also one of only 2 drivers, the other being Joseph Willows, to have competed in every single race since the series inception. Debuting in 2006 for Toyota, McKenzie established himself as a star of the future, scoring 2 fine podiums for the midfield marquee in his first season. 2007 yielded a move to BMW where further success came his way, he won his third race for the German Manufacturer in Bahrain to take his first F1 win, a further win that season followed in Belgium as McKenzie finished 6th overall in the standings. Continuing with BMW into 2008 now with a car completely befitting of his talents, the popular Pole won again in Bahrain for the second season running, taking his first Pole Position in the process. Now scoring regular podiums for the team, McKenzie would end up finishing fourth overall behind the dominant McLaren's and Ferrari's. 2009 was supposed to be the year everyone anticipated McKenzie and BMW to challenge for the championship after two seasons where the team arguably over-performed. This was not to be, 2009 was a struggle for most of the championships established frontrunners, and BMW faired just as badly as the likes of McLaren and Ferrari. A handful of podiums and a consistent run of points scoring positions was about as good as it got for McKenzie and the team as he fought to 8th overall, which taking into account the competition and difficulty of the season, was a fine result all things considered. Frustrated with the backward step at BMW and the subsequent rebranding for 2010 that would significantly reduce the input from BMW, McKenzie sought out a move to another Engine Manufacturer, French Marquee, Renault. Unfortunately, the season did not produce the results McKenzie had wished, he scored a solitary podium for the team in Spain. He ended up 10th overall, a point behind teammate Evan Byrne who had managed to win in Turkey that season. Contractually obliged to continue into 2011 McKenzie reluctantly stayed for that season as his teammate moved to the front-running McLaren, much to his dismay. 2011 was McKenzie's worst on record. Reunited with long time collaborator and friend, George Roke McKenzie failed to score in the opening 7 races, whilst Roke scored points in 5 of those 7. Form improved from Canada onwards, with a string of strong performances which dragged him from his lowly position to 13th overall at the end of the season, however this was still behind his teammate who was 11th. Without a win since 2008, McKenzie was under pressure following his lacklustre 2011, but was still retained by Renault into 2012 now called Lotus-Renault F1. The 2012 car was a marked return to form for both Renault and McKenzie, a podium two races into the year in Malaysia and a further one two races later in Bahrain helped to restore a lot of the standing he had lost following his lacklustre 2011. Consistently scoring points that season, McKenzie finally won for the first time in 4 seasons, a brilliant performance in a attrition filled Singapore. If it hadn't been for numerous retirements from good positions in the latter part of the year, he would have finished higher than his eventual 7th overall and would probably have overhauled teammate Roke who ended up 2 points better off than his Polish compatriot. Nonetheless, it was a welcome return to form for the Pole, who put two difficult and frustrating seasons behind him to restore some of his reputation. McKenzie and Roke were both approached by Mercedes for 2013 with both drivers accepting the drives with the view to long term success at the German manufacturer. The season was a complete success for McKenzie, who took 2 wins in his first season and scored consistent podiums for the team. He also comprehensively outperformed Roke for the first time in 2 seasons. He ended up fourth overall, equalling his best finish overall from the BMW glory days in 2008. Pre-Season testing in 2014 rubber stamped Mercedes as Championship challengers with the best car on the grid. McKenzie was now partnered by Wais Kuba following Roke leaving the series, and the Congolese Driver set the pace for all 4 testing days thus making him the favourite for the season. The actual season could not have been further from the predictions. McKenzie dominated his new teammate, winning 6 races to Kuba's 3 as he went on to win the World Championship for the first time, winning the title by a record margin that has only been bettered by Florian Völker in 2015. The championship win was met by widespread acclaim and support with many saying it was a deserving result and proof of the resolve of McKenzie to come back from difficult times to win the ultimate crown. 2015 saw McKenzie partnered by Will Neller and the Mercedes challenger looked to be as good as the previous season. McKenzie initially struggled however, despite winning the second race that year, Neller was far more consistent in terms of podiums. The second half of the season proved to be more fruitful however, 3 wins in the final 5 rounds meant he was still in title contention at the last race of the season albeit many points adrift of Florian Völker who had made great strides that season to move Ferrari to the forefront of the championship. McKenzie fell short at the final race coming home 2nd behind his title rival who clinched his fourth championship. McKenzie ended up being only the second driver to beat Neller as a teammate, doing so by a 37 point margin, albeit Neller suffered twice as many retirements as McKenzie. 2016 saw McKenzie retained by Mercedes for the season. GP4OC Results *Season in progress. Category:Drivers